Posts Tagged ‘Open Forum’

When I heard the news that the Transportation Safety Coalition had turned in around 7,000 signatures for an initiative to let voters decide if they want traffic cameras in Bellingham, I knew we could start waving hasta la bye bye to Mayor Dan Pike. Even with high kickout rates as signatures are verified, 7,000 is hopefully a lot more than the 3,880 needed and 7,000 is a referendum on Dan Pike and the current City Council of Bellingham.

When Dan Pike was Mayor of Bellingham he had a chance to hold an open forum and listen to peoples concerns about the cameras. He didn’t. As signatures mounted during the petition drive, he could have postponed signing the contract with ATS. He didn’t. Through the whole process he could have represented the interests of the people of Bellingham. He didn’t. Dan Pike may legally be the Mayor, but in reality, he isn’t.

From where I stand in Ferndale I see the people of Bellingham, left, right and in the middle looking for leadership in the next election, not in the current mayors office. Hasta la bye bye.

Gotcha! Did you think that mister hope and change himself, Barack Obama, was coming for a visit?

Sorry, the hope and change I’m speaking of is a bit more tangible. It is the hope that the already great city of Ferndale, can be a much better place to live. Change Ferndale, is new organization with that goal.

The mission of Change Ferndale is to enact positive change and improve the city of Ferndale, WA We will do so by 1) Improving communications between residents and city officials 2) Improving communication between residents and the School District 3) Offer an open forum for discussion of the issues facing the city of Ferndale 4) Endorse policy that the organization approves of, and React to policy that offends the organization and its participants

While I think this is a worthy cause for an organization, I have to admit that I have a concern about an organization to improve communication, not listing it’s membership. A blog writer with a semi-secret nom de plume is quite a bit different than a political action group with undisclosed membership. Especially a group who states that their first move involves gathering “a small amount of money so that we may get signs posted around Ferndale stating our position.” Money and secrecy don’t mix well.

However, I agree with their first project, confronting Ferndale School District’s seeming obsession with putting us taxpayers $21,000,000 dollars more in debt. I hope Change Ferndale will soon reconsider their secrecy. It will make it easier to support their efforts on this issue and perhaps others in the future.

Please don’t let my concern stop you from going over to Change Ferndale and learning more about them and this $21 million dollar bill that FSD is trying to serve to us. I’ll be check in NO during the second vote on this issue and I hope you will too.